Composting has become a universally current necessity. Need exists for an inexpensive rigid, thin walled plastic bag stand to receive a variety of bio-degradable materials easily transportable to a composter. Further need exists that the bag stand be light, rigid, inexpensive and be easily transported over rough or smooth terrain and easily operated by young, old or handicapped persons.
It has been known for many years that receptacles in the nature of bags of cloth, paper or plastic must be supported by a stand or holder of some type if one person is to be expected to work in an effective manner as he or she goes about filling a bag of this type with goods, food items or rubbish.
An example of an early form of bag holder is the Hildreth Patent No. 1,057,240, which pertains to a simple wooden frame comprising only a bottom and left and right sides, with the left and right sides being hingedly attached to the bottom. When the sides are brought into an upright position, the upper edges of these sides can form two adjacent support locations for supporting the upper part of the bag in the filling position. After the filling procedure has been completed, the frame can then be folded into a compacted position.
Another device of this general type is the Cox Patent No. 1,653,393 entitled "Holder For Bags During Filling Operation," which issued Dec. 20, 1927. This device is made of U-shaped frame members of hollow tubular material, with suitable hinge means permitting the user to laterally move such holder for the folded condition into a deployed position in which the mouth of the bag can be supported in the open position by the upper portions of the U-shaped members. This device obviously uses the metallic tubular members, and only involves a three-sided support, rather than a continuous support for the entire circumference of the mouth of the bag.
Other patentees have provided bag holding devices suitable for use with groceries as well as waste receptacles, and the Roesel Patent No. 2,010,789 entitled "Sanitary Waste Basket and Stand" would appear to be a satisfactory device for holding a paper grocery bag in the appropriate condition for receiving groceries, but it does not provide around its upper edge, any form of continuous support arrangement that would be satisfactory for supporting the mouth of a plastic bag in a goods-receiving or trash-receiving manner.
The Sasai Patent No. 3,410,328 entitled "Delivery Continuer for Perishable Foods" was issued Nov. 12, 1968, and involves upper and lower continuous, four-sided members held together by four pairs of struts arranged in X form. The ends of the strut members are mounted in slots in a manner permitting the upper and lower continuous members to be pulled apart when the device is to be used, or pushed together at the time of storage. The Sasai configuration, however, necessarily utilizes a number of carefully formed components that could not be produced inexpensively, nor fitted together except by the employment of a sizable amount of hand labor.
The Cruse Patent No. 3,905,406 entitled "Bag Support Stand" does provide a continuous support for the mouth of a paper or plastic bag, and utilizes U-shaped leg assemblies. It is quite obvious, however, that Cruse's configuration utilizes metallic leg members and this patentee goes to the considerable trouble of making his stand adjustable, so that different sizes of flexible walled containers can be accommodated. While the Cruse stand would not likely be as costly to produce as the Sasai device, it would nevertheless involve a considerable expenditure of funds for its production, and it would not appear to be strong enough to support a heavily laden bag.
The Jones Patent No. 4,846,427 entitled "Lawn and Leaf Bag Frame" involves a wheeled device that can be utilized in a deployed condition and thereafter moved to a folded condition at the time of storage. However, this device necessitates the use of spreader means and bag retention means, and represents a device of elaborate construction obviously costing many dollars to manufacture and to assemble.
It was to overcome the disadvantages and expense of these prior art devices that the present invention was evolved, which is a particularly sturdy device able to be produced very economically.